CERCLE 1

46 Y ouhave togoback in time to1940, to the firstminutes of the Board of the Barcelona Royal Artistic Circle af- ter the Spanish CivilWar, to find the beginnings of the institution. Although it’s true thatwe’venot beenable to find the launchof this explicit desire to create an educational and research frameworkaroundartwithin theheart of theCircle, it is also true that there has always been thewill to do so. It maybe that the circumstancesof theperiodwere such that it remainedbut aproject. The current GoverningBoardpresidedbyMr. FélixBentzhas discussed themultiple requests from the activemembers of the Circle in regards to artistic training. Perhaps it’s the best moment to restart the initiatives suggested previously and re-launch the Barcelona Institute of Art. A commission has been created to this end, inwhichwe are creating a viability planunder theaegisof amodernproject compatiblewith the everydayworkof theCircle. The complexity of starting a new teaching and research pro- ject in an area that is more used to a specific way of doing things is noticeable from the comments of those that are in- volved in drawing up the Institute programme’s content. I’m surewe’ll find theway to launch the projectwithout it inter- fering in the everyday business of the Circle, so that our sy- nergiesonly improve. Thecurrent toolswehaveareanally to do so.Networkcommunications favoursourworkandallows us tomaximise teacher-teacher, teacher-student andstudent- student knowledge transfer. That is to say, a kind of learning amongst othersandequals ina cross-disciplineart education frompre-history to the latest trends. The 19th-century vertical one-direction transmission of knowledge is out of date today. The rigid teaching of various disciplines (subjects) from the teacher’sauthority tostudents hasmoved towards the collectionattainment of objectivesby using anymedia in reach and sharing them amongst friends and strangers to enrich our own knowledge. Even artistic techniques (watercolour, acrylic, oil, printing, etc.) canbe ca- rriedout from thispoint of view. TheBarcelonaRoyal ArtisticCircle, theBarcelona Instituteof Art, by its ownwill and institutional capacity, has the task of definitively launching its teaching and researchwork on fine art, aswasproposedat the time We areworking so as not to fall into the banal temptation of promoting timid little coursesonhackneyedand fruitlessold topics, as some of the other collectives inour area do. ABar- celona Instituteof Art shouldbeworthyof thename it bears, and should also carry out its purpose: to improve theworld throughart.█ Rafael Sanzio. LaescoladeAtenas / LaEscueladeAtenas/ TheSchool ofAthens Salade laSignaturadel Vaticano. 1508-11